Supralapsarianism

Definition and Meaning

The term supralapsarianism comes from the Latin supra ("above" or "before") and lapsus ("fall"), and thus means "before the fall." The view arose within the Calvinist doctrine of predestination in answer to the question of how the logical order of God's eternal decrees (his foreordaining of what will come to pass) should be understood. The order in question is logical, not temporal.

This view understands the order of the decrees roughly as follows:

• God decrees to elect some people and to reprobate others (that is, to pass them by and leave them outside salvation).
• God decrees to create human beings.
• God decrees to permit the fall of humanity.
• God decrees to save the elect through Christ.

The contrasting view is infralapsarianism, which holds that the decrees of creation and the fall come first and that election takes place from among a humanity already fallen.

Biblical and Historical Background

Proponents of supralapsarianism appeal to passages such as Romans 9:18–23, which contains the image of the potter and the clay; Ephesians 1:4, which states that God chose his people before the foundation of the world; and Ephesians 1:11, which speaks of God working all things after the counsel of his own will. Infralapsarians emphasize that Scripture portrays election as mercy shown to sinners.

John Calvin himself did not treat the order of the decrees systematically. The question was taken up in earnest by later Reformed theologians, and Calvin's successor Theodore Beza is generally credited with setting forth supralapsarianism. Article 7 of the First Head of Doctrine of the Canons of Dort describes election as taking place "out of the whole human race, which had fallen," and for this reason the article is commonly read as closer to infralapsarianism. The Westminster Confession of Faith did not adopt either view as its official position, although William Twisse, the prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly, was a supralapsarian. In the twentieth century, Karl Barth reinterpreted election in a Christocentric way and adopted the supralapsarian framework in modified form.

Practice in the Korean Church

In Korea this subject is addressed chiefly in systematic theology courses at seminaries in the Presbyterian tradition. Works widely used in Korean seminaries, such as Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology, present both views. The Reformed tradition generally recognizes both as views within the bounds of orthodoxy, although the churches' official confessions do not specify either one. The distinction is rarely mentioned in preaching or in ordinary Christian life.

Denominations influenced by Arminianism and Wesleyan theology, such as the Methodist, Holiness, and Full Gospel churches, do not accept unconditional election at all. They understand election as grounded in God's foreknowledge of a person's faith, and consequently the debate over the order of the decrees is not taken up in these denominations. Among Baptists, the degree to which Calvinism is embraced varies from church to church, so there is no single position. Related discussion can also be found in the article Predestination and Free Will.